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You Only Live Twice (song)
| length = 2:48 | label = Reprise | writer = | producer = John Barry | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} "You Only Live Twice", performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film of the same name. The music was by veteran Bond film composer John Barry, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognized for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high octaves of the violins and lush harmonies from French horns. It is considered by some to be among the best James Bond theme songs, and has become one of Nancy Sinatra's best known hits. Shortly after Barry's production, Sinatra's producer Lee Hazlewood released a more guitar-based single version. The song has been extensively covered by artists, from Coldplay to Soft Cell, Björk and Little Anthony & The Imperials to Shirley Bassey. Robbie Williams notably re-recorded the opening bars of the song for his hit "Millennium". Background James Bond veteran John Barry returned to the franchise to produce the score. The lyrics were by Leslie Bricusse, who had previously cowritten the lyrics for the theme to Goldfinger. Julie Rogers was asked to perform the song, and recorded it with a 50 or 60 piece orchestra at CTS Studios. The song was quite different from the later Sinatra version, with a more Oriental flavour. Jazz singer Lorraine Chandler also recorded a version of the song that differed greatly from the other two. Chandler's version has a bombastic, Shirley Bassey-sound, which differs from the mellow alternate versions. John Barry said: "It was usually the producers that said 'this isn't working, there's a certain something that it needed'. If that energy wasn't there, if that mysterioso kind of thing wasn't there, then it wasn't going to work for the movie." The song shares only two lines with Sinatra's, "You only live twice", and "you’ll pay the price". The film's producer Cubby Broccoli, wanted his friend Frank Sinatra to perform the song. Frank suggested that they use his daughter instead. Barry wanted to use Aretha Franklin, but the producers insisted that he use Nancy instead, who was enjoying great popularity in the wake of her single, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". The version (2:46) featured in the film's opening title sequence and on the soundtrack LP is in the key of B and has a single vocal track. The song was recorded with a 60 piece orchestra on 2 May 1967 at the CTS Studios in Bayswater, London. Sinatra later recalled that she was incredibly nervous during the recording, and it took around 30 takes to acquire enough material. Producer John Barry eventually created the final product by incorporating vocals from 25 takes. In UK the soundtrack had been released but while soundtracks such as Doctor Zhivago and Fiddler on the Roof hit the Top 20, You Only Live Twice was less successful. Nancy Sinatra’s single version squeezed into the Top 20 for two weeks only. Barry also released an instrumental version but this failed to chart. In Japan, the soundtrack was released in a gatefold with images from the film and a plot summary.The Definitive Story of You Only Live Twice. Graham Thomas. Kindle. Critical reception Roy Wood described Barry's string introduction to his song "You Only Live Twice" as "absolute perfection". Mark Monahan of The Daily Telegraph described the lyrics as "mysterious, romantically carpe diem ... at once velvety, brittle and quite bewitching". David Ehrlich of Rolling Stone ranked "You Only Live Twice" the third best James Bond theme song, calling it "a classic." Cover versions The song is one of the most covered Bond themes. * Nancy Sinatra recorded a different chart version produced by Lee Hazlewood and arranged by session guitarist Billy Strange featuring a guitar backing with Sinatra's voice double tracked as a pun on the word "Twice" Burlingame, Jon The Music of James Bond Oxford University Press, 1 Nov 2012 * Billy Strange performed his own instrumental version on the last of his James Bond cover version albums James Bond Double Feature. * Little Anthony & The Imperials included a cover of the song on their album Movie Grabbers. * English synthpop duo Soft Cell included a cover on the B-side of their 1984 single "Soul Inside". * Australian band The Scientists released a heavy guitar version of the song as a single in 1985. * Acen sampled the string section on his song "Trip II the Moon (Part 2)" in 1992. * American band Pain Teens released an industrial-rock version of the song, that can be found in a various artists compilation album "Love and Napalm". * Robbie Williams re-recorded portions of the song (notably the opening strings) for use in his 1998 song "Millennium". The music was re-recorded rather than sampled, as this was less expensive than licensing the original recording. * Coldplay released their cover as a B-side on their "Don't Panic" single. * Björk recorded a version for the 1997 album Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project but it was not included on the album. It is available as download from bjork.com. * Natacha Atlas included a cover, that appears to use exactly the same arrangement of the song David Arnold prepared for Björk, on her 2005 compilation album The Best of Natacha Atlas. * Shirley Bassey, the vocalist for the title songs from the Bond films Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker, performed the song on her 2007 album Get the Party Started. * Indie-pop group The Postmarks recorded a version for their 2008 album By the Numbers. * Cee-Lo Green samples the song for his 2011 single "Bright Lights Bigger City". * Mark Lanegan included a cover of this song on his 2013 covers album Imitations. * Ex Chameleons front man Mark Burgess covered this in 1993 as Mark Burgess & the Sons of God on the album Zima Junction * Lea Michele sampled the trademark notes in her Louder 's song, "You're Mine". * Bill Frisell covered it on his 2016 album When You Wish Upon a Star, an album devoted to covers of songs from movies and television. This version is sung by Petra Haden, the daughter of Frisell's frequent collaborator bassist Charlie Haden. * In 2014, Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter Joanna Wang covered the song on her album Midnight Cinema. In popular culture The song was used in the closing montage of Mad Men's season five finale, "The Phantom". A parody of the song was created for The Simpsons episode "YOLO". Charts See also * James Bond music References Category:1967 singles Category:Nancy Sinatra songs Category:Songs from James Bond films Soundtrack Category:Songs with music by John Barry (composer) Category:Songs written by Leslie Bricusse Category:Little Anthony and the Imperials songs Category:1967 songs Category:Reprise Records singles Category:Coldplay songs